Family Ties
by WingedPegasus
Summary: Alexa is an average Air Force Lieutenant, her brother is a scientist. The only extraordinary thing about them is that they both worked to a posting on Atlantis-until a hornet's nest is unleashed by an off-world attack. Team with Woolsey and two OCs.
1. Chapter 1

**Family Ties**

_Author's Note: __I seem to have this way of starting fics with off-world team banter. So, even though this fic isn't focused on the team, they will have appearances throughout. The next chapter will be significantly longer than this one, and feature the other main players of the story: Rick and Alexa._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate. Shame, too, 'cause then I'd be making that SGA movie. :P  
_

CHAPTER 1

Spring was in full bloom on this planet, as evidenced by a crown of new leaves frosting the branches of the ever-ubiquitous offworld trees. Just-opening flowers bounced in the breeze as the planet's long grass gave way to the purposeful strides of the Atlantis team, headed by a sunglasses-clad Colonel Sheppard. The sun shone brightly, the grass was green, the flowers were blooming, and McKay sneezed.

Ronon, who had been walking in front of the scientist, wiped spittle off his bare arm and shot Rodney a dark glare. "Use your own arm next time," he said.

McKay rummaged through his vest pockets. "Sorry, Conan, but allergies aren't exactly something I can control." He fished around in a pocket of his vest, sneezed again, and pulled out a packet of antihistamines. He took a dose and washed them down with lukewarm water from his canteen. "Why can't these planets all have spring at the same time?" he continued. "It's the middle of winter on Atlantis' planet, for pete's sake!"

"I think the variety is wonderful," Teyla contributed with a smile. "The change in season was always seen as a time of beauty and renewal on Athos."

McKay loudly blew his nose. "Well, the only thing this planet has renewed is my allergies," he complained, words muffled by the tissue he held to his face.

The corner of John's mouth curled upward at the exchange. He opened his mouth to comment, but snapped it shut again as his eye caught movement in the grass a few meters from their position. He raised his clenched fist and the conversation behind him immediately ceased. In an instant, Ronon's gun was out of its holster, Teyla had a firm grip on her P-90, and McKay was checking the life signs detector and fumbling for his pistol. Three pairs of eyes scanned the treeline.

"What is it?" Teyla asked softly.

John shook his head, staring intently into the field. "I though I saw something in the grass," he replied.

"The life signs detector shows nothing,"McKay said. "It was probably just the wind."

Sheppard's brow furrowed. "Well," he said, relaxing his guard slightly. "You can't be too—"

His words were abruptly cut short by a bullet whizzing past his ear. "COVER!" he shouted, diving behind a nearby boulder. He saw his team hit the dirt and worm their way through the tall grass toward more defensible positions, bullets spraying up dirt as they went. He moved to take a quick peek over the top of his boulder, but a fresh rattle of gunfire changed his mind.

"Automatic weapons," he muttered to himself. "That just figures." He tapped his radio. "McKay!" he called. "What's our distance from the 'gate?"

"_About two—HEY! Watch it, Chewy! What're you trying to do, singe my hair off?" _

"_Not much to singe,"_ came Ronon's retort.

"_As I was _saying,_ we're about two clicks out. But there's no way we can get there—Ronon and I are pinned down at least 6 meters from the treeline. Who are these guys, anyway? Machine guns aren't your typical Pegasus fare. More like torches and pitchforks. Not that, you know, pitchforks can't hurt."_

"I don't know, Rodney," John said, ignoring McKay's interjection. "They've got me down so tight I can't even raise my head. Anyone else get a look?"

A new voice crackled into their conversation. _"Their weapons appear to be Genii,"_ Teyla said. _"There are at least nine of them. They do not wear uniforms, but their weapons are quite distinct."_

"_Oh, you're kidding! The Genii again?" _McKay asked indignantly._ "What is _with_ those people?" _

John silently agreed with Rodney, but decided to stick to business. "What's your position, Teyla?"

"_I have made it to the treeline without being discovered. I can attempt to fire from this position, but they have fortified themselves most effectively. I may only succeed in announcing my presence and becoming pinned down as well."_

Shepard considered his options for a moment. "Can you make it to the gate without being detected?" he asked.

There was a slight pause. _"I believe so." _

"Then do it," he responded. "Dial Atlantis and tell them to get in here with a jumper. We'll hold out until then."

"_Understood. Teyla out."_

Her orders received, Teyla melted back into the deep underbrush of the forest. Making sure not to be seen, she began to move quickly and silently toward the stargate.

It took Teyla slightly longer than she had expected to navigate through the forest's leafy underbrush—while she was grateful for the cover provided by the thick foliage, the intertwining branches of alien thornbushes weren't exactly conducive to speedy movement. Her pace slowed as she reached the clearing where the stargate was located, her eyes scanning the area for danger with practiced expertise. No guards. Clearly, whoever had engineered the ambush had not expected anyone to escape. Teyla ran into the clearing, dialed the stargate, entered her IDC and dashed through the wormhole.

_

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_

_Thanks for reading, folks! Care to drop me a a line by way of review? I do dearly love a bit of feedback...gets those creative gears grinding, y'know. ;)  
_

_'til next time! _

_~WP  
_


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

First Lieutenant Alexandra Hayward walked purposefully through the halls of Atlantis. She paused as she reached her destination, swiping her hand over the crystals on the access panel. The doors to the Science lab opened with a soft _swoosh._ She stepped in, gave a grin and a nod to a few acquaintances, and stopped directly behind an man staring intently at his screen, oblivious to all else as he mumbled under his breath and typed quickly on a keyboard. Alexa rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Rick."

Typing.

"_Rick."_

More typing.

"RICK!"

The man in question jumped and emitted strangled cry of surprise, then relaxed upon recognizing Alexa. "Oh, it's you," he said, sounding annoyed. He swiveled his chair back around to his screen. "What are you doing here?" he asked, already reabsorbing into his work.

"Oh, nothing, really," Alexa said with a casual shrug. "I just thought I should tell you that fifteen Wraith hive ships arrived in orbit about 30 seconds ago."

"_WHAT?"_

She grinned and spun his chair around so that he was facing her once more. "Now that I have your attention, would you download whatever's so darn important into your tablet and come on? You were supposed to have lunch with me half an hour ago."

Remembrance flooded Rick's countenance. "Oh . . . lunch. Sorry. I've been busy."

"Yeah, I figured." She watched as her older brother quickly downloaded his project into a tablet, closed the connection, and started toward the door—still staring at his work. She pushed an errant chair out of his path and followed. "So, what'cha working on now?"

"I'm repairing a subroutine that automatically compensates for the shield's energy variance when under load."

". . . you're making sure the shield gets enough power when Atlantis is under attack."

"Yes. Apparently, the power levels have been fluctuating as of late, and secondary power relays are consistently burning out when the shield is under fire. I'm cycling the power through a redundant configuration that should redistribute each surge more effectively."

Rick had returned his full attention to his work. Alexa sighed and quickly reached for the tablet's suspend button, but Rick pushed her hand away before her fingers could brush the button. Alexa rolled her eyes and waved her rebuffed hand in front of her brother's face.

"C'mon, Rick, it's lunch break! You know, the time when one takes a break and eats lunch? Emphasis on 'takes a break?'"

"This happens to be a very complicated process. If you'd suspended the tablet then, half my work would have been lost." He hit a few more buttons with the stylus. "There. _Now,_ it can be safely suspended." He half-grinned. "You could have just asked_,_ you know."

"Ah, where's the fun in that?" Alexa asked, matching his joking tone.

"So, making me losing work and putting my projects behind is now 'fun.'"

Alexa made a face. "Of course not. I still don't think you're behind, though—you're way ahead of the rest of the science section. I don't remember the last time one of their projects was done on schedule."

"Consistent underperformace doesn't make normalcy exceptional," Rick said.

Alexa shook her head. "Then 'underperformance' becomes normalcy, so you could always _consider_ lowering your personal standard to a more manageable altitude..."

"Since when is having a high personal standard bad, Miss I-had-a-nervous-breakdown-whenever-I-didn't-get-A's-in-flight-school?" Rick said with a grin.

Alexa grimaced good-naturedly. "Point taken."

They rounded a corner and entered the bustling mess hall. Alexa grabbed two trays and handed one to Rick. "So, how are things in the dungeon?" she asked.

"Entertaining as ever," Rick replied. "Doctor McKay lit into two junior scientists this morning. It was like watching a fireworks display," he said with a grin.

Alexa chuckled. "What'd they do this time?"

"From what I picked up amidst the proclamations of their gross incompetence and that they would serve a better purpose as shark food . . . they seem to have used a Lantean device as a coaster for their coffee cups."

Alexa raised her eyebrows "That doesn't sound as bad as some of the things I've heard down there."

"Their _leaky_ coffee cups."

"Ooh, ouch."

"No kidding. To make matters worse, it was the device Alpha team brought back from MX-2743."

"The planet with all the pitchfork-wielding natives?"

"That's the one."

Alexa snorted back a laugh. "Woo, are they ever in hot water."

Rick snagged a plastic-wrapped roast beef sandwich and handed a turkey one to his sister.

"Cold water, to be more precise. I saw McKay restricting access to their quarters' hot water lines. I believe the lockout expires in a month."

Alexa set down her tray on a nearby table with a laugh, taking the seat across from her brother.

"I'm surprised you've avoided his wrath for this long," she said.

"So am I," Rick said as he unwrapped his sandwich. "But things were a little rough when I first got here. He tends to stay out of your hair if you do your work on time and well."

Alexa nodded. "Sounds like Major Clement," she said. "he's nice for the most part, but he keeps our team on its toes." Suddenly, her eyes fixed on a point somewhere over Rick's left shoulder. He followed her gaze and caught sight of Woolsey entering the mess hall line, nodding awkwardly to a marine.

"It's so odd to see him here, isn't it?" Alexa asked. "He was always so far away when we were growing up, and now we see him practically every day."

Rick gave his sandwich his full attention. "Proximity has nothing to do with it," he mumbled. "He's as distant as he ever was." He looked up at his sister. "Have you talked with him at all?"

She shook her head. "Nothing beyond orders."

Rick nodded, staring at his sandwich. "I guess it's better that way," he said, then shook his head and took a large bite of the sandwich.

Alexa poked at her fruit salad absentmindedly, then waved to a marine who had just entered the mess hall. He smiled, returned the wave, and came over.

"Who's this?" Rick asked as the marine approached.

"That would be Second Lieutenant Jason Scott. He's on my team, so be nice." Her next words were directed to the lieutenant, who had just arrived in earshot. "Hey, Scott! Over the flu yet, or are you trying to infect the whole city?"

Scott gave her a wry grin. Despite his imposing build, he had a cheerful personality and a penchant for pulling pranks on his fellow teammates. He and Alexa had declared a truce on their current prank war when he checked into the infirmary a day ago. (Most recently, Scott had found a pair of his boxers flying merrily from one of the lower spires of the city, a few days after pulling the classic shaving-cream-in-the-palm trick on Alexa during an overnight mission.) "Nah, the doc said it was food poisoning. Probably those berries the Major told me not to eat last mission. He says I'm ready to go now, though—guess we didn't need to scrub that recon mission after all," the Lieutenant said somewhat ruefully.

"Ah well, better safe than sorry," Alexa replied. Then her gaze shifted abruptly at the sound of an incoming radio transmission. She unconsciously straightened and tapped her earpiece. "Lieutenant Hayward," she said crisply. There was a short silence, then she added "On my way," and clicked off the transmission.

"Looks like we have a mission today anyway, Scott," she said to the marine. "We're to gear up right away. Clement's orders."

Scott grimaced. "I left my radio in my quarters. I'll be right there." He dashed toward the doors.

"What was that about?" Rick asked.

Alexa grabbed her water bottle and stood up from the table. "Remember that recon mission? Well, Alpha team got sent on it instead. Apparently, they managed to get themselves pinned down by some less-than-friendlies. The tower's sending us in to back them up."

Rick nodded. "Good luck," he said.

"Thanks."

"Be safe!" he added as his sister started jogging for the door.

She shot him a grin. "Always!" she called back. Rick watched until she turned out of view, then grabbed his laptop and reopened his project file.

* * *

_There you go, Rick and Alexa! Aren't they fabulous, folks? Give 'em a hand! _

_Seriously, though, although I was planning to wait a bit longer to upload Chapter Two (given how dismal the ratio of story to actually-written-fic is at this point), but I figured I should introduce you fine folk to the main players first. This way, you can determine whether they're characters you'll enjoy reading about. Well, did I manage it? Huh, huh? Did I? Click the review button, I wanna know! _

_...plus, I'll give you cookies..._

_;) 'til next time! _

_~WP_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hello again! :D_

_Since someone asked, I'll just make a general announcement: No, Lieutenant Jason Scott is not named after the Power Rangers character. ...Unless you liked that character, in which case yes, he is named after him. (Having never seen the Power Rangers, I don't have much of a reference frame.) :P _

_Oh, and yes, Woolsey will be appearing soon. This is kind of an ensemble fic, but FF (unfortunately) doesn't really have an option for that, so I put Woolsey as the main character. _

_A quick shout out to my reviewers, all three of 'em! Thanks for reading, sagey, cflat, and Andriabow! Kind words keep me writing. :D_

* * *

CHAPTER 3

Alexa jogged into the ready room to find the two ranking officers of her team, Major Clement and Captain Hicks, already halfway geared up for their mission. She grabbed her gear off a shelf and began to suit up with an efficiency that came with frequent practice.

"Where's Lieutenant Scott?" Clement asked, loading a clip into his 9-mil and checking the safety.

"He was at the mess hall a few minutes ago, sir," Alexa replied. "He should be here soon."

Clement nodded, and, as if on cue, Scott came running into the room. He hurriedly began to don his own vest and weaponry.

Clement clapped the young marine on the back as he walked toward the center of the room. "Listen up, team!" he said. "As you know, Alpha team has been ambushed on their mission to MX-9673. Miss Emmagen has informed us that we will be dealing with at least nine targets wielding automatic weapons. We will be going in by cloaked jumper, Lieutenant Hayward piloting." He made eye contact with Alexa; she nodded in acknowledgement. Clement continued, "Depending on the enemy's proximity to Alpha team, we may need to land and take them on the ground. This is a simple rescue op. Make it quick, make it clean, and make me proud. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" the team replied in unison.

"Let's go!"

A few moments later, the jumper was skimming low over the surface of the planet. Alexa was in the pilot's seat, scanning the surface and the HUD for activity as she gently guided the ship over the rising and falling contours of the tree-covered surface. Clearing a rise, several breaks in the forest became apparent. "There," Teyla said suddenly, leaning over the console and pointing toward a large clearing surrounded by dilapidated buildings. Distant flashes of automatic gunfire, coming from several positions, could barely be seen. Alexa nodded and turned the jumper in that direction. For the fifth time in their short flight over the planet, Teyla tapped her radio.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Teyla. I have brought backup and we are closing on your position. Please respond." She waited; empty static was the reply.

She tried again. "Ronon, Dr. McKay, come in please."

More static.

Alexa swiveled her seat slightly and glanced toward her CO. Major Clement caught her look and took a deep breath. "Ma'am," he addressed Teyla, "you know we would like to provide air support, but we cannot proceed until the targets have been identified."

Teyla nodded, her brow creased. "I am aware of that, Major." She tapped her radio again. "John, please respo-"

Before she could finish her sentence, three things happened almost simultaneously. First, from his seat in the rear of the jumper, Lieutenant Scott suddenly let out a short and high-pitched noise that Teyla thought rather odd coming from a Marine. Second, Alexa violently wrenched the controls of the puddlejumper to the left and barked out a tight "Look out!" Third, Teyla noticed something small and glowing outside the front window of the jumper. Something small, glowing, and approaching at an alarming rate.

It had barely registered in Teyla's mind that the rebels on the surface not only possessed some sort of rocket-propelled explosive technology, but also the ability to use it, before the aforementioned explosive hit its target with impressive force. Already thrown off balance by Lieutenant Hayward's attempt to evade the explosive, the impact threw Teyla against the cabin wall. Sparks flew from the cabin ceiling. She was dimly aware of people tumbling and shouting in the rear of the jumper, and a bright flash of light from the console.

Somewhat fuzzily, Teyla wondered at the force of the explosion. Then, as darkness encroached on her vision, she recalled their close proximity to the planet's surface—and consequently short opportunity for their pilot to recover control before the ship and its occupants plummeted into the ground.

This was not a fact that had escaped Alexa's attention. She wrestled with the jumper's sluggish controls in a desperate bid to regain control of the hurtling airship, trying not to notice how alarmingly quickly the ground was approaching.

"Come on, come on, come on..." she muttered under her breath. "Be nice!"

Almost as suddenly as it had been knocked off course, the ship righted itself and began to slow its descent. But it was not soon enough. Major Clement barely had time to issue the short warning "Brace for impact!" before sudden, violent _slam_ into the ground. Crashed into an otherwise serene meadow some distance from the firefight, the jumper proceeded to create a large and unsightly tear of dark earth in the ground before creaking to an eventual, ungraceful halt.

"Teyla? Teyla, come in!" John shouted into his radio, ducked semi-safely behind a large rock. Automatic weapons-fire created a brief hail of stone chips, remind him of his precarious situation. He fired a quick burst from his P-90 an attempt to discourage his opponents' current line of thinking.

"Teyla?" he tried again. "Anyone, can anyone hear me?" A few moments ago, he had heard a distant explosion, shortly followed by a puddlejumper streaking overheard while trailing smoke from one of its drive pods. He had then realized that if anyone had tried to contact him via radio, the noise of battle had likely drowned it out—and he had been trying to establish radio contact ever since.

Ronon's voice came over the radio. _"Sheppard, come in,"_ it said.

John clicked his radio. "Go heard." A fresh spray of bullets tore up the Colonel's cover, sending a small shard of rock into his pinky finger. He made a face and shook out his hand, then sent an answering hail of bullets across the meadow. "Okay, now go ahead," he amended.

"_McKay's been hit,"_ Ronon said. Sheppard's face tightened. "How bad?" he asked. _"Not bad,"_ Ronon replied. A distant complaint filtered through the radio static to Sheppard's ears. _"'Not bad?' I'm bleeding! This is blood!"_ Relaxing slightly, Sheppard leaned his head back against the boulder. This was one instance where he far preferred righteous indignation from the scientist than silence._"It's his upper arm," _Ronon's voice said._ "Through and through. Didn't hit the bone." _

"Good," Sheppard said. "Bandage him up, he'll live." _"Already done,"_ came the response. Rustling came over the airwaves, possibly from movement on the part of the big man. Then: _"Sheppard? Any luck getting through?" _

The Colonel sighed. "Not yet," he said, somewhat heavily.

"_Well, they'd better come fast. I didn't tell him, but—McKay's wound is bleeding more than it should. The bullet might have nicked an artery."_

Several impolite words flashed to the forefront of Sheppard's mind, but he swallowed them down. They tasted unpleasant. "Understood," he said.

Rolling onto his stomach and keeping his head low in the tall grass, he surveyed their position. He could make out at least three soldiers remaining, but experience and his gut told him there were more—probably five, at least, judging from the defensible positions he could see and the additional bursts of fire he heard whenever they decided to shoot at him. Five left. John pulled out his P-90's magazine and sighed.

Three bullets.

He screwed his eyes shut and leaned his head back against the boulder. Teyla had better come fast.

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_Stay tuned, folks, and be sure to let me know what a good/okay/terrible/abysmally awful job I'm doing in the reviews! :D_

_Hope you keep reading. =) And as an...incentive...*offers more cookies* Okay, I'm really not very good at the subtle thing. :P _


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